12.7.03

10.7.03

...the sole worn through, the skin
Bruised red and calloused, uncut toenails curved
And veined like an old ivory. No one spoke.
Police stood at attention by a stretcher.
After an empty moment, suddenly
Bent over as if taken by a cramp,
I sobbed out loud and, on my uniform,
Vomited up my lunch—over the tie,
The polished buttons and insignia,
The little strips of color and the green
Eisenhower jacket with its Eagle patch,
The taut pants in a crease, the glistening jump-boots—
Vomiting and still sobbing, like a child
Awakened in the night, and sick...

'During the Second World War, I was in Japan listening to a radio programme on which kamikaze pilots, before leaving, were allowed to say something to their parents or family. And they all said, "Mummy, I'm going now and I wish you a long life". It was just the most horrific thing that I've heard, and I'll never forget that. I'll never forget that. What an incredibly cruel thing to do to any human being. I think that changed my whole idea about war. I was a young girl so I really didn't know what war was, except that it's very frightening. And every night I had to go into a shelter when the B-52s came overhead. There was nothing noble about the war. I mean, there was propaganda in both countries, I'm sure, saying, "It's a noble war, we have to do it". But when you get down to those pilots, then you know it's cruel and totally wasteful.'

7.7.03

Ono no Komachi, whose life is shrouded in mystery, is believed to have been active in the tenth century. She is a legendary figure, a woman of great beauty and passion, who has been dramatized in many genres.
The poem in this scroll reads:

Colonel-Engineer Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (1937- ) was a Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman in space. She was on the Vostok 5 mission which launched on June 16, 1963, and orbited the Earth 48 times. The flight lasted 2.95 days. The spacecraft was recovered on June 19, 1963, in the Soviet Union.

6.7.03

"Love your country, but never trust its government." - Robert A. Heinlein.Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter: Eskimo PiA 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.The "huddle" in football was formed due a deaf football player who used sign language to communicate and his team didn't want the opposition to see the signals he used and in turn huddled around him.Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.scientific refutation 1.unscientific refutation 2. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: MARLBORO, COCA-COLA, and BUDWEISER, in that order.WYW7FTD